A full but satisfying day

My first visit for the day was always going to be a bit of an unknown quantity as I was keen to visit my old friend Robin Fleming who is in the dementia unit at the Charles Fleming retirement village. Her partner Susi had forewarned me that these visits can either go very well or very badly. Ironically, the village is named in honour of Robin’s father, Sir Charles Fleming, a noted scientist and ardent conservationist who saved much of the Waikanae wetlands which we are able to enjoy today. We were prepared to cut our visit short if things weren’t going well. Susi picked me up from Elspeth’s and the two of us visited Robin together.

Things turned out even better than we had hoped. Robin immediately recognised me as an old friend and was excited to see me even though she didn’t remember exactly who I was. She was bubbly and chatty, very much like the Robin of old. Much of the conversation was confused, though that didn’t really matter. It was still very much worthwhile, and I’m so pleased that I saw her.

Susi then left and I wandered the few hundred metres down to Bryan and Norah’s unit, also in the retirement village. Bryan and I then drove down to Paraparaumu to visit an old friend from Rongotai, Mel Fielding, and his wife Jan. Neither of us had seen Mel since our first year at university when he had done his Medical Intermediate then left to continue his optometry studies. We spent a pleasant couple of hours catching up on one another’s news and reminiscing about old times. Bryan then dropped me back at Elspeth’s where we were to meet up again with Rosemary and Laurie whom she had invited for drinks and nibbles. Again we spent a very pleasurable time chatting, while Laurie and I enjoyed a couple of cleansing ales. Even though I’d seen Rosemary and Laurie a few days earlier at the Island Bay Kids’ get-together there was still a great deal to talk about. None of us ever run out of conversation.

The day wasn’t over yet, as I’d been invited back to Bryan and Norah’s for dinner, and again a couple of ales. I drove over there and spent a most relaxing evening with the Frasers before returning to home base about 9.30pm. Plenty of excellent socialising on my last full day in New Zealand.

(I also realised that I’d been too abasorbed in all the conversations to take photos at all the places I visited).Read more